Can you tell us a bit about yourself: who are you, where do you come from, what do you do?

 

 

My name is Marie-Cécile Rollin and I am chief executive of Restau’co.

 

I discovered collective catering 25 years ago, first in the area of hygiene and quality, then on missions to do with purchasing and supply chain. I became chief executive here in 2014.

 

 

 

 

The future is starting to look a little brighter for the organic sector. What does the situation look from your perspective?

Organic food has now earned its place in school catering, where it has now become commonplace to have an organic and, if possible, locally sourced yoghurt, fruit, bread and sometimes even a main dish. This has been confirmed by figures from “ma-cantine” (étude 2024): declarations from the Education sector show that they have an average of 17% organic in their catering offering.

However, to ensure that the organic sector has enough openings, it is essential to accompany and support the health and care home sector which accounts for half of all collective catering procurement, and where only 3 to 4% of its procurement is organic.

 

What are RESTAU’CO’s projects to support the sector?

The role of Restau’Co is on the one hand to assist the organic sector in understanding the constraints and levers of collective catering and, on the other, to help our members find solutions for ever more responsible catering in spite of their economic restrictions. We also act on a political level by campaigning for better recognition of social catering so that it might have the resources (human, skill and financial) to support the agricultural chains in our communities.

On the ground, we are currently supporting the health and care home catering sector with the “More organic on the plates of our elders” project. We measure the proportion of organic purchases financed by changes in practices: purchases of organic products, development of recipes with higher protein content, specially tailored menus. We will be pleased to share the results of this survey at the upcoming edition of Natexpo.

 

What are you expecting from the next edition of Natexpo in 2025?

Events like Natexpo offer an opportunity to highlight the issues faced by a sector, offer a platform to its ambassadors, and create dialogue. I am pleased that the show is giving the floor over to collective catering stakeholders at this 2025 edition.

 

What’s your everyday organic reflex?

Oat milk soap from a local soap maker.